The Plainfield Public Schools, in partnership with its community, shall do whatever it takes for every student to achieve high academic standards. No Alibis. No Excuses. No Exceptions.
MaxsonMiddle School
End of the Year Report
SY 2001 - 2002
June 6, 2002
I Introduction
MaxsonMiddle School currently enrolls approximately 940 students in grades 6 - 8.
63 % of Maxson students are free or reduced lunch eligible. 69 % of Maxson students are African-American; 30% are Latino; 1% are Caucasian.
The Maxson faculty consists of 87 teachers, four(4) full-time and one half-time guidance counselors as well as a full-time social worker. 34% of the faculty hold masters degrees.
The basic structure of Maxson is currently determined by the four(4) schools of choice that are currently housed there. A 'school of choice' is defined asasmall, theme-based learning community of no more than 225 students and distinguished by core teachers that 'loop' with students across the three(3) years and a problem-based, interdisciplinary curriculum. All Maxson students, at the end of the 5th grade, choose a school of choice. This year Maxson offers four(4) school of choice options:, a school of math, science and technology, a dual language school, a school of careers and a school of global issues.
All Maxson students are cycled through exploratory electives such as art, computer and Internet applications and foreign language on a semester or marking period basis. Maxson houses a television studio, a state of the art technology lab, an Internet lab and a third computer lab where students learn the Microsoft Office basics - word processing, spread sheets, data bases and Power Point. As well, every Maxson classroom has Internet access. There are at least two computers in every class. The District’s middle school bilingual program is also housed at Maxson.
For the last three years, MaxsonMiddle School has been aligned with the America's Choice whole-school reform model. The initial emphasis has been on literacy.
In SY 2001 - 2002, mathematics became, as well, an instructional focus. A new standards-based math program, Connected Math, wasintroduced for all three grade-levels and special education. A full-time math coach was hired to oversee the implementation of Connected Math.
We are currently waiting for this year’s GEPA results[See Appendix C for results from the last three years]. In addition to our writing TAP data, the other significant student achievement data is from the New Standards New Reference test results. Last year was the first time that this test was administered to both 7th and 8th graders. And this data was not disaggregated by grade level. As a result, the substantial gains in Language Arts from the previous year were not sustained. With the confounding of the 7th and 8th grade data, this is in some ways predictable. Those with only two years in the model should not be expected to perform as well as those with three. The strongest student achievement data on hand, then, is the writing TAP. There is clear evidence of steady student progress toward mastery of the standards.
Another strong indicator of student progress is the number of students who read more than 25 books. The final total will be in the vicinity of 230 students. While only 25% of the school’s population, this figure still represents almost 6000 books and a doubling of the number of students who met this standard last year.
For SY 2002 – 03, the focus of the Maxson budget and school plan, given the state’s imposed freeze on new spending, is on strengthening the existing initiatives in language arts and mathematics. Science, as well, will receive additional support. During SY 2001 – 2002, the LASER science initiative, with its emphasis on inquiry, was extended to the middle schools. A sufficient amount of materials have already been purchased to ensure that all science teachers, for at least part of the year, will be able to present high quality, inquiry-based science to all students.
The budgetary support of literacy is two-fold: to increase the holdings of the book room, that is, the supply of books on which all language arts teachers draw for their whole-class novels; and, to expand classroom libraries to include leveled books, those written for students reading below grade level. The school’s library, however, will not receive funds for new books this upcoming school year.
Due to budgetary constraints, technology will not be a priority this year. The original plan to purchase additional computers to reduce the computer/student ratio to 1:5 was, again, due to the new spending freeze, abandoned.
The most significant budgetary issue, however, for next year is Maxson’s inability to support an extended day program. This was the case for the current school year and will be for next year as well. The absence of funds has placed on the school the burden of developing within the existing school day an alternate solution to the problem. This year, ramp up supports were provided within the school day. The current thinking is to continue with this arrangement, however limited in scope, but to supplement it with a more effective use of the after school time currently available as part of the regular school day.
The year’s most significant development in our efforts to provide more consistent supports to struggling students has been the establishment of the Student Family Support Services team. A district initiative, this building-level group consists of the social worker, guidance counselors, nurse, a child study team representative, an administrator and the referring teacher. The team’s aim is to identify struggling students and develop effective support interventions.
II Accountability Profile[See Appendix A for a summary of rubric scores for each accountability goal]
Goal 1: Improve student achievement through instructional rigor and alignment with the
NJCCCS.
Score: 1[Basic]
Discussion
Maxson has made significant progress in deepening and extending the implementation of the America’s Choice literacy model. The chart below illustrates the progress that has been made as determined by the America’s Choice Quality Review Assessment. Only three language arts class are at stage less than full implementation.
An even higher level of implementation can be found in Maxson’s mathematics classrooms. In every Maxson mathematics classroom, Connected Math is the sole focus. This is a remarkable development. In the course of one school year, mathematics instruction has gone from an utter lack of instructional focus to a concentrated focus on a standards-based program. There is, however, three year phase in for the entire Connected Math program.
Summary of America’s ChoiceQuality Review Assessment
[Five Point Rubric: 0: not in place; 1: getting started; 2: moving along;
3: almost there; 4: fully implemented]
Rubric Score / Fall 01 / Spring 021 / 48% / 29%
3 / 26% / 40%
The strongest indication of the effectiveness of these implementation efforts is TAP[Target Assessment Process] writing data. Administered three times in a year, the TAP assessment process provides an interim measure of student progress.
The chart below compares the results of the TAP I assessment, which is administered in September, with those of TAP III, which is administered in May.
A significant trend can be illustrated as follows:
- 6th Grade: TAP I, Level 3 or higher – 10%
TAP III, Level 3 or higher – 53%
- 7th Grade: TAP I Level 3 or higher – 13%
TAP III Level 3 or higher – 49%
- 8th Grade: TAP I Level 3 or higher – 27%
TAP III Level 3 or higher – 71%
Target Assessment Process/Writing
SY 2001 – 2002
[NR: no response; FR: fragment; OT: off topic]
6th / NR / FR / OT / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6TAP I / 0 / 1 / 44 / 57 / 51 / 19 / 2 / 0 / 0
TAP III / 0 / 0 / 2 / 24 / 61 / 69 / 22 / 7 / 0
7th / NR / FR / OT / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6
TAP I / 3 / 11 / 46 / 128 / 114 / 31 / 6 / 0 / 0
TAP III / 1 / 0 / 24 / 31 / 133 / 101 / 20 / 1 / 0
8th / NR / FR / OT / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6
TAP I / 0 / 5 / 24 / 59 / 97 / 53 / 14 / 2 / 0
TAP III / 0 / 1 / 15 / 14 / 46 / 105 / 68 / 7 / 0
As was mentioned in the introduction, the New Reference test data, organized by math and language arts in the charts below, is an imperfect indicator of student progress due to the aggregation of the 7th and 8th grade results. Nonetheless, these results, as well, indicate the known areas of weakness: concepts and problem solving in math and analysis and interpretation in language arts.
MaxsonMiddle School
New Reference Results in Math
Spring 1999, Spring 2000, Spring 2001*
Skills / Concepts / Problem Solving1999 / 2000 / 2001 / 1999 / 2000 / 2001 / 1999 / 2000 / 2001
Achieved the Standard with Honors / 10% / 14% / 10% / 0% / 0% / 0% / 0% / 0% / 0%
Achieved the Standard / 20% / 29% / 24% / 1% / 7% / 2% / 4% / 4% / 4%
Nearly Achieved the Standard / 26% / 21% / 20% / 6% / 14% / 7% / 3% / 7% / 3%
Below Standard / 23% / 20% / 31% / 14% / 25% / 26% / 25% / 28% / 24%
Little Evidence of Standard / 21% / 15% / 16% / 79% / 53% / 65% / 8% / 61% / 69%
* Spring 01 scores include 7th grade students at the end of the year
MaxsonSchool
New Reference Results in ELA
Spring 1999, Spring 2000, Spring 2001*
Reading / WritingBasic Understanding / Interpretation
and Analysis / Effectiveness / Conventions
1999 / 2000 / 2001 / 1999 / 2000 / 2001 / 1999 / 2000 / 2001 / 1999 / 2000 / 2001
Achieved the Standard with Honors / 0% / 1% / 1% / 0% / 3% / 1% / 0% / 0% / 1% / 0% / 0% / 1%
Achieved the Standard / 25% / 48% / 42% / 5% / 29% / 19% / 25% / 34% / 26% / 45% / 27% / 15%
Nearly Achieved the Standard / 50% / 37% / 46% / 34% / 37% / 42% / 62% / 52% / 61% / 43% / 40% / 44%
Below Standard / 25% / 13% / 11% / 60% / 31% / 38% / 12% / 14% / 11% / 12% / 25% / 32%
Little Evidence of Standard / 0% / 0% / 0% / 0% / 0% / 0% / 0% / 0% / 0% / 0% / 8% / 8%
- Spring 01 scores include 7th grade students at the end of the year
Goal 2: Community Engagement
Score: 2[Partially Proficient]
Discussion:
The Maxson LINCC has representation from all school constituencies, save a community member. There are a total of 14 members. The overall attendance rate is 84%. Unlike last year, parent participation has been consistently high. The average attendance rate for all four of the participating parent was 84%. See Appendix E for LINCC attendance data.
A year-long calendar of events is distributed in September at Back To School Night and mailed to those who do not attend. This calendar also appears in the students’ agenda notebooks. Additionally, a calendar is sent home monthly highlighting events for that month. Flyers immediately preceding individual events are not sent home. Exceptions to this are PTO meetings and any special events that do not originally appear on the calendar. Technology has also been used as a means of communication with parents and guardians. A parent distribution list has been established that contains the email addresses of more than 130 parents and guardians. Communications are sent via email as well as hand carried by students. The school's marquee, web-site and public address system are also employed.
Our translation of communications into Spanish has been consistent throughout the year. With only a few exceptions, communications, including the monthly calendars, have been sent home in Spanish as well as English. For next year, we have again budgeted to hire three faculty or staff members to translate all school to home communications.
- School Partners
Our current school partners the National School Community Corp, DARE and Girl Scouts. The latter two provide a modest after school component for at risk students.
- Opportunities for Involvement
Besides their monthly meetings and the opening of school picnic for families and faculty that was attended by 150 people, the PTO has sponsored an array of events designed to support parents and guardians in their ability to support their children, both academically and socially. Most of this work has been done in the area of standards – ensuring parents and guardians understand what is expected academically of their children. This has been the third consecutive year that this issue has been a programming priority for the PTO. A unique addition this year was a workshop with an explicit focus on raising parents’ awareness about the GEPA exam and the nature of its tasks. There are plans to continue this attention to GEPA in the upcoming year though in a more expanded way. As well, a series of three workshops for parents around the issue of conflict resolution – how to help one’s children manage conflict in a more even way – were offered in conjunction with the New Jersey Bar Foundation. The list of all workshops and attendance is below.
PTO-sponsored Workshops for Parents and Guardians
SY 2001 - 02
Event / AttendanceConnected Math Workshop / 16
Persuasive Writing Workshop / 11
GEPA Workshop / 4
Conflict Resolution Workshops[3] / 10, 21, 33
Lastly, this was the first year that the school – outside of the PTO – sponsored workshops for parents. Significantly, the aim of these two workshops was to respond to the needs of typically neglected populations – bilingual and special needs students. The workshop for bilingual parents was on enabling them to think of college as a viable option for their children, despite their inclination to think otherwise. There are already plans to continue and extend this effort next year. For special needs parents and guardians, the workshop was entitled ‘Understanding Your Special Needs Child’. The emphasis was on helping parents and guardians see the world through the eyes of children with learning disabilities.
School-sponsored Workshops for Parents and Guardians
SY 2001 - 02
Event / AttendanceNurturing College Aspiration of Bilingual Students / 5 families
Understanding Your Special Needs Child / 13 families
- Diversity:
One consistent way that issues of diversity are addressed is through the purchase and use of novels for language arts classes that reflect – either by author or subject matter or both – the cultural experience of the school’s dominant ethnic or racial groups. Currently, Maxson’s book room holdings consist of 53 different adolescent novels. The number of copies of each title varies from 10 – 150. Of these titles, almost 60% are either written by or about people of color. Three titles concern issues having to do with the Holocaust.
53 Titles# of titles by or about African-Americans / 25
# of titles by or about Latinos / 5
# of titles by or about Native Americans / 1
# of titles about the Holocaust / 3
An attention to issues of diversity is commonly understood as celebrating the accomplishments, heroes and holidays of different groups. For Maxson, Black History Month is filled with various acknowledgements of famous or noteworthy African-Americans. This year, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Langston Hughes, an assembly program was developed that featured both students and faculty presenting their interpretations of Hughes’s poems.
The same attention, however, is not paid to noteworthy Latinos and their accomplishments.
Lastly, in light of the gang-related concerns that surfaced this Fall, the school developed a series of information sessions and trainings for the wider community, faculty and students to raise awareness about what could be done to combat this issue. Three sessions were held for the community. One was attended by 180 people; the other two by five and three, respectively.
Goal 3: Comprehensive Supports
Score: 1[Basic]
Discussion:
The strength of Maxson’s efforts to provide students with comprehensive supports is it School and Family Support Services[SFSS] team.
For SY 2001 – 02, the caseload of Maxson’s SFSS team, in its first year of existence, included 37 students. Each of the students was referred to the SFSS team by one of more of his or her teachers as a result of some difficulty that interfered with his or her productivity. The case manager, usually the guidance counselors, was responsible for collecting and organizing the full-range of background information on the child and his or her difficulty. The team then met to consider appropriate interventions. In this, the first year, the initial challenge was to norm and routinize the team’s work. This was accomplished. Below is a copy of the meeting schedule that the team held to for the entire school year. This is one indication of the consistency of their focus. Students were identified and cases were heard in an on-going way throughout the year.
Monthly SFSS Schedule
SY 2001 - 02
MAXSON MIDDLE SCHOOL
Student and Family Support Services
The SFSS Team has been established to organize district resources to meet the Abbott mandates, which requires the mechanisms by which schools work with the community to:
√ Intervene with individual students
√ Increase and integrate the use of social services and resources
√ Implement effective systems for referrals and case management
SFSS referrals can be made by anyone including parents, guardians and teachers. Referral forms are available in the Main Office, from the Social Worker, or a Guidance Counselor.
The following monthly meeting schedule has been established:
TUESDAY, WEEK I: 9:00AM—10:00AM CASH
10:00AM—11:00AM ALAS Adm.: Mr. Lopez
TUESDAY, WEEK II: 9:00AM—10:00AM RB
10:00AM—11:00AM MIT Adm.: Ms. Blowe
TUESDAY, WEEK III: 9:00AM—10:00AM CASH
10:00AM—11:00AM ALAS Adm.: Mr. Lopez
TUESDAY, WEEK IV: 9:00AM—10:00AM RB
10:00AM—11:00AM MIT Adm.: Ms. Blowe
The larger challenge, however, is to ensure the team’s effectiveness. The central question here is did the interventions actually make any difference for the child? For each of the 37 students, data are currently being gathered – grades, attendance, disciplinary referrals – to gauge the impact of the interventions. A review of this data will help refine the team’s thinking about the nature and effectiveness of the interventions.
Included in the Appendices is a sample of the reports that the Global Network Campus[GNC], the software package that enables counselors and the SFSS team to track their intervention efforts, can generate. Since this software was not operational until mid-year, the data are incomplete. They do not yet reflect the full-range of intervention efforts across the year, for both SFSS and non-SFSS students. Using this tool consistently and well is a priority for the upcoming school year.
Another dimension of the work of providing comprehensive supports planned for next year is the use of a guidance curriculum. The aim here is to schedule guidance counselors to meet on a set schedule with their students to engage issues of goal setting, social skills and conflict resolution. The thinking here is simple: the meaning of comprehensive supports cannot be limited to only reacting well when problems occur. Instead, they must involve pro-active, preventative work.
Summer school, as well, is a dimension of the comprehensive supports. Appendix F contains data on summer school 2001 and preliminary data on summer school 2002. A challenge here is to increase the number of students who both attend and successfully complete summer school. For 2002, 32 6th graders who were invited either did not attend or did not complete summer school; the same is true for 23 7th graders. The larger challenge here, however, is to increase the number of students who successfully complete summer school and return to their proper grade level after the end of the second marking period. According to the school’s promotion and retention policy, after successfully completing summer school, students who are retained in grade level have the opportunity to return to their proper grade level if they continue their progress and achieve certain academic benchmarks by the end of the second marking period. Only 22% of 6th grade students in this category managed to return to grade level; only 49% of the 7th graders did so as well. Successfully completing summer school is the first step in this process, but, alone, is not sufficient to ensure a return to grade level. Our support and monitoring of these students through the first two marking periods of school must improve.